


This Ain't The Right Time To Fall In Love With Me

by DefaltManifesto



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Breaking Up & Making Up, Canon-Typical Violence, Consensual Infidelity, Cunnilingus, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Making Out, Post-Coital Cuddling, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 06:15:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13851792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefaltManifesto/pseuds/DefaltManifesto
Summary: Aveline and Donnic are on a break, so Aveline goes dragon-hunting with the Inquisition to deal with her feelings.





	This Ain't The Right Time To Fall In Love With Me

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this for WAY too long. I had a ton of fun writing it. I hope you like it! Comments are loved. Also, yes, the last part of Soft Dom!Cullen is coming. 
> 
> Title from Dark Times by The Weeknd

[The tumblr](http://defaltmanifesto.tumblr.com)

 

Bull is sparring with Krem when he sees Aveline for the first time. She’s talking with Varric as she descends the staircase from the main hall of Skyhold and the sun glints off the fiery orange of her hair in a way that draws his eye From Krem’s lunge. He’s too busy staring at her to feel the blow to his ribs. Or the next. Or Krem insulting him. She carries herself without grace, every movement a calculated motion the way a highly trained warrior moves when they’ve been in the field too long.

Krem whacks him in the head with the flat of his practice blade. “Chief, stop ogling the ladies and work with me.”

“In a bit,” Bull says, tossing his shield at Krem.

Krem sighs and heads back for their rooms with their gear. Bull makes a mental note to buy him something nice as an apology as he meanders his way over to where Varric and his new friend are talking. Varric notices him first and smiles.

“And here’s our resident dragon-slayer,” Varric says.

“It’s a new title,” Bull says, holding a hand out for the woman to shake. “Technically, our Seeker is our dragon-slayer. I never thought I’d get the chance to see one up close and now the Inquisitor lets me come on ever expedition.”

“I look forward to working with you,” the woman says as she takes his hand in a firm grip for a no-nonsense shake. “Aveline, Guard Captain of Kirkwall. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“And what’s the Guard Captain of Kirkwall doing in Skyhold?” Bull asks, forcing himself to let go of her hand.

“She needed a vacation,” Varric says. “I told her a good dragon hunt was just what she needed.”

“Ever hunted them before?” Bull asks.

“Once, yes, though that had been more of an accident,” Aveline says. She doesn’t seem like a woman who blushes much, but her cheeks turn a faint shade of red at the words and Bull has to fight the urge to start flirting right there. Adorable had not been the first word in his mind when he saw her but now…

“How do you accidentally hunt a dragon?”

Fenris and Anders were bickering,” Aveline says. “By the time we rounded the corner of the mountain path it was too late to run away.”

“Well, I look forward to working with you,” Bull says, and he can’t resist giving her a slow wink.

She doesn’t blush this time, only raises an eyebrow. Bull likes a challenge.

 

-.-

 

Aveline knocks back another swallow of the ale Varric bought her. It burns on the way down and doesn’t help even a little with the anger and frustration that’s been festering in her chest since she slammed the door on Donnic.

“The more I think about it, the more killing a dragon seems like the only way to deal with this,” Aveline says, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“That’s the attitude!”

She turns to see Bull taking a seat on her other side.

“Hey, maybe now isn’t the best time, Tiny,” Varric says, a sign that he could read the room better than their newest companion.

Then again, maybe she was underestimating him because when she looked back at him after another long swallow he was frowning.

“So it’s not just a vacation then I take it,” Bull says.

"My husband I are…taking a break,” she says. “Varric recommended killing dragons as a way to deal with my frustration, and frankly it’s been a long time since I’ve had a good fight. The criminals in Kirkwall have gone soft on me.”

“Ah, matters of the heart,” Bull says. “I can’t help there, but I can buy you another drink.”

Aveline blinks. Perhaps she’s a little drunker than she thought because she’s having difficulty wrapping her brain around the fact that she’s having a decent conversation with a Qunari. “That would be nice.”

Varric slaps her shoulder. “I leave you in Bull’s capable hands then. I have to finish up the latest installment of Swords and Shields before Cassandra starts threatening me again.”

“Oh, Maker,” she groans. “You’re still writing that…nonsense?”

“Hey the people like it,” Varric says.

“Yes, but did you have to use my likeness?” she asks.

Varric grins. “What can I say? You’re a compelling muse. Have a good night!”

“Wait, _you’re_ the woman that shit is based on?” Bull asks.

“Unfortunately,” Aveline says. She shakes her head. “I’m nothing like the woman in that book. Thank the Maker he didn’t put how my courtship of my husband _actually_ went because the reality is much worse.”

Bull leans on the counter with an elbow, head turned to her as he props himself up with his hand. “This I want to hear.”

“Maybe after my next drink.”

Bull buys her more than one. A lot more. Aveline can’t remember the last time she laughed until she cried, but she also can’t remember the last time she got this drunk. Bull matches her story for story. She ends up at a table with him and his Chargers and they’re enraptured by her stories of the Champion. Hawke seems so untouchable to them. It’s hard for them to believe Hawke ended up in the situations she did. By the end of the night, she feels lighter. There’s still the anger lurking in her chest, but it’s been subdued by good company, drinks, and the idea that none of these people will remember her when she leaves.

It’s Bull that helps her to bed. Half of her expects him to ask if he can stay the night given his not so subtle flirting, but once she’s on her bed and tugging off her boots he just gives a ridiculous wink and head off. It’s…nice. And more respectful than she expected. Then again, she’s more than a little biased from the Qunari attack even after all these years. He’s a little forward maybe, but he seems kind. She stares at the ceiling and wonders what his hand would feel like on her, then feels guilty because even if she and Donnic had agreed they could see other people while they took a break there’s still an outline of his ring on her finger.

The whole thing was foolish. She felt like Hawke and Fenris, descending into some weird sword of push pull relationship without a steady foundation when that’s never what she and Donnic had before. They’d handled their problems well over the years. But after the rebellion…Kirkwall still was a mess. She’d held it together through sheer force of will as the rebellion swept across Thedas and kept the citizens safe, but that meant putting her issues with Donnic on the back burner. Over and over. By the time the Inquisition established itself and closed the big hole in the sky it was too late. He’d screamed about her emotional distance. She’d yelled about his lack of commitment. She’d even thrown her ring at him, though she’d apologized after and tucked it away in a box before she left.

She curls up on her side and tries not to think too hard about the mess she’s made of her life.

 

-.-

 

“Wait, we’re going after three in a row?” Bull let his axe slide down so the blade is in front of his crotch, just to be safe.

“Might as well,” the Inquisitor says. “I’ve got Cole set up to be a runner for us between here and the camps to bring us supplies if we need. Otherwise, I figured it was beset to wipe out all three dragons at once.”

Blood pumps through him hard at the mere thought. He turns his gaze to the crumbling ruins across the bridge and he can’t help but smile.

“I take it you enjoy fighting things like this?” Aveline asks.

“There’s nothing better than a fight where you almost die fighting something that regal,” Bull says with a wide smile.

Aveline’s lips twitch into something close to a smile before she looks at Varric. “Can’t you make any normal friends?”

“What? I have great taste,” Varric says.

"Alright, come on stop bickering, we’ve got work to do,” the Inquisitor says.

           

-.-

 

Aveline curses and hacks at the ice rooting her in place as the dragon circling above screeches its fury to the air. She breaks free just in time to get her shield up to protect herself from the next blast of cold. The dragon lands behind them and she sprints towards it as Dorian sends blasts of fire over her shoulder to blind the beast, bending to one knee as she swings her sword into its foreleg. It screams its rage and swipes at her but her shield takes the blow. She pushes herself up, setting the beast off balance with the shield while Bull takes her place to hack into the thick hide of its leg with his axe.

Fresh adrenaline pumps through her as the weight of the dragon’s leg vanishes. She knows what’s going to happen next but she can’t move quick enough to get her shield back in position so she braces herself as the claw crashes into her armored side. It hurts and her feet slide but she holds her ground. It’s enough to her to swing her sword up and slice into its foreleg again so it can’t even think of grabbing and crushing her. It gives her enough time to reposition herself back a ways so she can meet the creature’s eyes with her own and hold its attention.

It’s a dangerous position to be in, but Bull can get to more sensitive areas if she keeps its attention. Her muscles shake as another claw swipes down at her, clanging against her shield with enough strength that her arm nearly gives. She pushes back and follows up with another swing of her sword, spraying blood across her face and armor as she finally pierces the thick hide she’d been working at. The dragon roars and a blast of cold streams towards her. She gets her shield up just in time, but misses the movement from her left side.

The claw wraps around her tight, flinging her to the side like a rag doll. She can’t stop the scream that leaves her as she lands on her arm and feels the sickening crunch but she cuts it off with a clenched jaw and gets to her feet. Her right arm is just a pillar of pain. She lets it dangle as she picks up her shield. Before she gets a chance to return to the fray, Bull gives a furious roar from where he’s somehow managed to climb onto the beast’s neck before his axe comes down and cleaves through its head right between the eyes. Aveline collapses back on the ground with adrenaline fueled relief and watches with a smile on her face as the dragon screams its rage and whips its head back and forth before falling to the ground.

The next thing she’s aware of is a warm hand at the back of her neck holding her head up as someone else holds an elfroot potion to her lips. She drinks it down and leans into the warm weight as it begins to mend her bones.

“You’re fucking tenacious for a human,” Bull says, his voice a rumble against her ear.

“I’m Ferelden,” she says, then groans as the elfroot really starts to work, bones grinding against one another as they knit back together.

Bull laughs. “Ah of course. You Fereldens are quite stubborn.”

“So. Two more dragons?”

“Not for you,” the Inquisitor says from somewhere to her right. “Bull is taking you back to camp. Cassandra and Blackwall will replace you both while you rest. I want you two back for the Highland Ravager.”

“Mmm…that’s fair,” Aveline says.

“Yeah, you’re not thinking all that clearly are you?” Varric asks.

“I’m fine.”

Bull laughs again. “Alright hang tight. I’m about to pick you up and it’s gonna hurt.”

Aveline bites the inside of her cheek and inhales quick as Bull stands, jostling her a bit to get a better grip on her. “I’m fine.”

“Yes, yes, you’re a big strong warrior but you also crushed all the bones in your arm so I’m going to keep carrying you,” Bull says.

Aveline falls asleep before she can protest further.

 

-.-

 

Bull sets Aveline down on the cot as gentle as he can and then takes a seat on the barrel at the opposite end of the tent. He admires Cassandra’s fighting because she has a cause she believes in so fully that she commits herself to every fight with every fiber of her being but Aveline…she fights with the same spirit just _because_. But she’s no Reaver. He’s got a flexible mind but his brain has trouble wrapping around what seem to be contradictory ideas. Then again, he doesn’t know enough about her to know what drives her.

She wakes up with a groan, hand sliding over to her previously broken arm. The elfroot and healing from the resident age had taken care of it, but the break had been in multiple places so even with that it was likely still going to ache for days.

“So do you feel better about you and your man’s divorce?” Bull asks.

Aveline groans again. “Shit.”

“Rest up. Boss wants us back for the last one,” Bull says. “Any lingering frustration you can take out then.”

“Thank the Maker, the pain just makes me grumpier,” Aveline says. “Did I say anything embarrassing?”

“Nah, you were just stubborn,” Bull says and then grins. “I take it you don’t like being carried off the battlefield.”

"No, not really,” she says. “Even now men look down their noses at women warriors. I’d rather not fulfill their ideas of what I am.”

“No one here thinks that,” Bull says. “Did your man?”

“Oh stop,” she says with a scoffing laugh. “Your bedside manner is atrocious. I don’t want to talk about my husband, but because you asked, no Donnic never made me feel like less of a warrior. He took my orders well. He just couldn’t handle that I became.”

Bull leans forward on his knees. “And what was that?”

“Nope. Give me another elfroot potion so I’m not totally useless as reinforcements,” she says.

Bull obliges.

 

-.-

 

Aveline isn’t sure how it happens. Well, she sort of is. Adrenaline, near death experiences, it all gets the blood going which is fine but she thought she had more self control than this. As it stands, she finds herself with her legs wrapped around Bull’s waist as he presses her to a stone column and kisses her breathless. Her armor digs into his skin but he doesn’t seem bothered by that or the cold. She can hear the Inquisitor talking with Varric and Cassandra a ways away, no doubt brainstorming the best way to take back three dragon corpses. They don’t’ seem to care that Bull and herself have vanished.

That makes her wonder how frequently Bull makes out with his comrades after battle. She shoves at his chest and eases back, an easy going smile on his face that calms her nerves more than she wants to admit.

“Yes?” he asks.

“This is highly inappropriate,” she says.       

“Is it?” he asks.

“I’m married,” she adds.

“Yeah, but you already told me you and your man agreed you could have fun while you’re on break,” Bull says.

“We’re covered in dragon blood,” she says.

Bull just grins wider. “I know, pretty hot right?”

Aveline flushes. “Our companions are right there.”

“Ah, not an exhibitionist then,” Bull says and then sighs. “Oh well. I suppose we can revisit this later.”

“Please, lets.” The word leaves her before she can think about it. She blames the still aching throb in her arm and the four elfroot potions she’s had in the last hour.

Bull smiles again but lets her down anyways. She tries not to think about how nice it had felt to be held like that again, or how long it’s been since Donnic had done the same.

 

-.-

 

Bull likes a challenge but Aveline is less of that and more…annoying. That’s not entirely fair. He likes her company quite a bit, but the hot and cold signals are starting to be more frustrating than fun. Sometimes he catchers her looking at him with this heat in her eyes that sets his blood pumping and when he responds in kind…she leaves the room. She doesn’t seem like the type who would enjoy being chased either so he’s at a loss.

Still. He’d rather have a straight answer. He corners her on her way to the stables, slinging an arm around her shoulders and steering her towards an alcove by the stairs instead.

“Can I help you, Bull?” she asks, shrugging his shoulder off.

“Yes you can,” he says. “Are we gonna fuck or not?’

Aveline stares at him, mouth opening and then closing again a few times before she settles for tilting her head to the side. “I’m sorry.”

“Because I’m into you and I think you’re into me, except you keep giving all these mixed signals,” Bull says. “So I figured I’d just ask.”

Aveline gives a frustrated sigh and turns away to kick at the stone staircase. “I’m sorry. I’m no good at this. It’s a miracle I married once let alone twice.”

"Twice?” Bull asks. Her hesitancy starts to make a little more sense.

“Wesley, my first husband. He’s dead. I killed him when he became infected with the Blight when we fled Lothering,” she says. “I didn’t think there would be anyone else, but then I met Donnic and well…we would have never ended up together if it weren’t for Hawke’s help. I don’t know how to approach people.”

“Okay that is….a lot of great useful information, but that still doesn’t tell me if you want to fuck,” Bull says.

“Yes. I would like to,” Aveline says, folding her arms across her chest and looking pointedly to the side. “I’m just very…uptight.”

Bull offers her a warm smile. “There’s a million jokes I could make but as a thank you for being honest with me, I’m going to resist the urge.”

“Thank you,” Aveline says, voice steady even as a blush swamps her face.

"Then I’ll see you tonight.”

Aveline nods, quick and sharp, before fleeing. Bull chuckles and heads back to the sparring ring.

 

-.-

 

“Fuck!”

Aveline yanks hard on one of Bull’s horns as she comes for the third time that night. Bull grunts in response. His fingers dig into her thighs, bruising as he spreads her wider for his tongue. Her heels dig into his shoulders as she tries instinctively to move away but the grip Bull has on her prevents her from getting any further.

“Too much,” she gasps, but she doesn’t want to get away. She wants to see where Bull can take her, wants to know how the pleasure turns to pain and then back again as he works her over.

Bull pulls back, letting her shaking legs fall down to his hips instead. He smiles as he looks her up and down. “Yeah, I think you’re ready for me.”

“I can barely move,” she says. “I hope you don’t expect me to do all the work.”

“Of course not,” he says. “That comes the next round.”

He gets a pillow under her hips and then grinds his cock against her and fuck he’s huge. She knew that but…

“Is this actually going to work?” she asks.

Bull laughs and runs a hand up her side, thumb rubbing small circles into her skin. “You’ll be fine, and if it’s too much you can always say and we can figure out something else. Ready?”

Aveline flushes and nods. When Bull pushes in, she can’t help the way her back arches into it, especially as she really begins to feel the stretch of him. It’s good though, new, and sets him squarely in the territory of Not Donnic. He pulls back and rocks in again, just as slow. Tossing her head against the pillows as she twists her hands in the sheets, she curses. It’s almost too much. The stretch of him is such a new sensation, she can’t help but feel as though he’s dominating her mind and her body as she changes to accommodate him.

It’s a ridiculous thought.

“Hey, where you going?” Bull asks.

She opens her eyes and stares up at him, flushing when she sees the look of concern in his eyes. “I’m fine.”

“Yeah, but sex isn’t about being fine it’s about enjoying it,” Bull says. He shifts, hips driving in a slow rocking motion that really makes her feel him. She gasps and clutches at his arm with one hand. “So, where were you?”

“My head gets the better of me sometimes,” she says, then bites her lip as Bull pulls out and thrusts back in just as slow until he’s able to grind against her clit. “Oh fuck…”

“Then let’s get you out of your head then,” he says, voice dropping into something closer to a growl.

Aveline shivers, hips moving up to meet him. “Please…”

 

-.-

 

Bull curls his arm around Aveline’s shoulders, tugging her closer. She makes another sleepy noise as she rests her head against his chest and goes still again, breath evening out. It had taken them awhile to get there but damn once they did…

He’s a little jealous of her husband. He knows a long term relationship isn’t something in his future, and he’s not sure he’d even want one with her if it was, but he wouldn’t mind a few more nights like this. Getting her there had been a challenge but one he liked. He liked tearing open someone’s shell until he had them truly with him, liked the way it felt like they were achieving something amazing but temporary with each other. Krem had indulged his ramblings many times before.

“It’s sex, Chief, not a religious experience,” he’d said.

Bull isn’t sure if it’s a him thing or a Qunari thing. He’s just always loved those moments when it all clicks and they both experience a pleasure that can’t ever be replicated even with each other let alone someone else. The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes the Qun definitely wouldn’t approve. Any intense attachment, even like this, even if temporary, opened too many doors to something more.

“Do you ever sleep?” Aveline mumbles into his chest.

“Not much.”

“Nightmares?”

Her tone isn’t judgmental. He imagines she had her fair share of them given that even on a good day Kirkwall is a mess.

“Partially. Mostly I just think too much,” he says.

“Hmm, sounds familiar,” Aveline says.

He grins. “Guess so.” He glances down at her, but she’s still got her eyes closed. “Do you think you and Donnic will get back together?”

“Yeah,” Aveline says, arm stretching over him. “I love him, it’s just that place…Nothing good happens in Kirkwall.”

“So leave,” Bull says. “If it causes you pain and ruins your marriage, why stay?”

“It’s terrible but it is home,” she says. “And someone has to stand between the innocent people that still reside there and those who would exploit them. Would you lay down your axe if the nightmares and wandering from job to job became too much?’

Bull grunts out a displeased noise. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“It’s like that. Donnic and I will make it work,” Aveline says. “I know that.”

“I hope you do,” Bull says. “You’re a badass woman, Aveline. You deserve some happiness.”

“You do too you know. Wherever that is or whatever that means for you,” she says.

Bull gives a noncommittal hum in response. Aveline doesn’t push though. She’s like him. She gets it.

 

-.-

 

Aveline tucks the scarf into the back of her hood before hauling himself into the saddle of the sturdy mount she’d purchased from Master Dennet. Bull and Varric stand off to the side, but they approach once she’s settled.

“You’ll write when you get back,” Varric says, less of a question and more of a command.

“Of course,” she says. “When should I tell the officials to expect you back?”

“Never,” Varric says with a grin. “Honestly though, in a few months. There’s some things I want to wrap up here first. Soon, you’ll get to see me every day.”

“Delightful,” she says, and she keeps her tone sarcastic, but she means it deeply.

"Travel safe,” Bull says. “And if you ever want to go dragon hunting, you let me know.”

Aveline smiles. “Got it. I’ll see you around.”

She taps her heels to her mount’s side and head through Skyhold’s gate. She heads home.


End file.
